Comfort Food: Kathy’s Not-Meat Loaf

When the weather gets cooler and daylight savings time makes me miss my evening sunshine I need all the comfort I can get. While I was never much of a fan of meat loaf fan, my 25 years as a vegetarian has given me a love veggie loafs.

I like to try different ones, and the magical loaf studio is usually my go to. This time I combined about 4 recipes and still went and did what I wanted to do. Since this is a pantry week for me I used 1/2 tofu and 1/2 tvp and really no veggies. You can add almost anything you have on hand, so it’s a great way to use up leftovers too!

This loaf is a lazy one. Please feel free to sub fresh onion and garlic instead of dried if you have the extra time, but I’d saute them before mixing them in.

Kathy’s Not-Meat Loaf

• 1 cup tvp
• 1 cup filtered water
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 3 sun dried tomatoes
• 1 cup tofu
• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion salt (or 1/2 tsp. plain salt)
• 1 Tb Italian seasoning
• 1 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
• 1/2 tsp garlic Tabasco (optional)
• pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup A1 steak sauce
• 1/8 cup vegan Worcestershire sauce

You can cook this in a slow cooker on low for about 6 hours or in the oven for 1 hour. Either way grease your pan (or crock). If using oven preheat to 350.

Boil water in a saucepan, mix in tvp, remove from heat and set aside.

In a food processor mince the pecans and sun dried tomatoes.

In a large mixing bowl combine everything but last 3 ingredients. The last 3 will make the topping. Add reconstituted tvp and mix thoroughly. Then spread into baking pan.

In a small bowl mix the ketchup, A1 and Worcestershire. Spread over the top of your loaf.

Bake in oven for 1 hour or in the slow cooker for about 6 hours.

Serve with mashed potatoes, green beans cooked with liquid smoke, and carrots for a balanced plate of comfort – southern style.